BREATHING ROOM / 99 LOOP GALLERY, CAPE TOWN / 2022
Breathing. It’s central to life and for most of us, it comes naturally. Action without thought. Little, if any, effort required. For many others, that’s not the case.
As the world spins ever more maddeningly into uncertainty, anxiety has become a daily physical experience for many – felt most palpably in the breath. The effect manifests, in part, as an intense awareness of every breath; how significant it is in its presence and devastating in its absence.
The very nature of breathing – long, short, deep, shallow, relaxed, rushed – has occupied my mind for years. Now, an interactive installation and accompanying artwork inspired by it occupies the physical: an exhibition titled Breathing Room.
Conscious breathing, like meditation, has stylistic qualities. It’s rhythmic and repetitive – a movement I’ve expressed as a series of radial shapes that comes to life with an interactive audio-visual experience.The installation invites attendees to take part in a guided breathing exercise. On the one hand, it depicts the unseen effects of breathing (calming, inward, reflective) through audio-visual stimulus.
On the other, it demonstrates our physical response through a visible output.
While the exhibition doesn’t promise any specific outcome, I wish to give form to the unusual entanglement of breath and state of mind, by offering the audience a unique, stylistic, and memorable experience.
